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Small press publishing is complicated, full of ups and downs — here are some major unanticipated problems with Feast, but also some new fabulousness on offer, one of them TIME-SENSITIVE:

It turns out that I deeply misunderstood the printer, and in order to get the significantly better pricing on the BIG order of 2000 hardcover cookbooks, the books won’t be available until end of December. GAH! I have to admit, I sort of freaked out when I realized that, because I had visions of missing all the Christmas / holiday gifting, and not being able to sell the books, and having 2000 books moldering in a warehouse somewhere in Canada. But Kevin managed to talk me down eventually from my financial panic, and I think it’s going to be okay.

Here’s the new plan:

– we have the Mascot Press books (offset printing, so much lower cost per book) in warehouse at the end of December, barring shipping delays; to be safe, we set our launch date for March 6, 2020 — when I’m an Honored Guest at FogCon in Walnut Creek (https://fogcon.org). Bay Area folks, I’ll be doing a launch party there, and encourage you to attend! There’ll be other Bay Area events that same weekend, including at least one in the Mountain View area.

We have a launch date! It is FIRM, dammit.

• I’ll continue launch month with a follow-up launch party at ICFA, in Orlando, March 20th weekend, which I also encourage folks to attend. You don’t need to be a registered member of the convention to come to my party, but it’s a great con, so I encourage folks to take a look (https://www.fantastic-arts.org/annual-conference/). I go every year. I’ll also be at WisCon in Madison on Memorial Day weekend, of course (my home con), and Benjamin Rosenbaum and I are planning to do road trip book tour in July — details pending. We may even record some podcast episodes as we go.

• we hold off on any major publicity until launch time next year. In the meantime, we do have print books in hand — the Kickstarter edition, each one signed, from my own Serendib Press, should be here by Monday. Eep! Those will be mailed out to Kickstarter supporters. If you haven’t filled out the BackerKit info, Kickstarter folks, please do — there are 6% of you that we’re waiting on.

(Absolutely no pressure, Kickstarter peeps, but we’ll also be messaging hardcover supporters to ask if you don’t mind waiting until the March launch date — it’ll save us a bit of money if so; we’ll be sending out ebooks within the month, we’re pretty sure, so you’ll have the recipes regardless. But totally fine if you want your hardcover books SOON! We’ll assume that’s the default, unless we hear otherwise from you.)

• we’re going to do a special series of Sneak Peek events, giving those in the know (that’s you folks!) the chance to pre-order, attend parties, and generally be in on the fun. You get to be part of the exclusive club. 🙂 Pem and I are still finalizing the list of events, but it’s generally places I was already going for other reasons, or near where I live. So here’s a few of them:

– I’ll be in the Bay Area next weekend, and I wasn’t sure, but it looks like I’ll have books with me (woot!). I’m planning to stop by Charlie Jane Anders‘s Writers with Drinks, possibly elsewhere, and will carry a big bag of books with me. If you know you want to pick up a book from me then, please let me know, so I’m sure to bring enough! Paperbacks $25 and hardcovers $40 (unless you pre-ordered, in which case, you get the discounted Kickstarter pricing of $18 and $35).

– The first local sneak peek event is coming up soon, Sunday, September 29th, 3-5 pm. at Jake’s Place Books, 142 Harrison Street. Locals, if you haven’t had the chance to check out this new LGBT-owned bookstore, you have to swing by! More details on the event soon — there is some discussion of a cook-off? I will have Sri Lankan treats on hand.

– And one more event, that you only have a few HOURS left to get in on, and which I’m VERY EXCITED about — my very good friend and member of my writing group, Amanda Daly, is also an incredible cook, and she makes really fabulous bagels. In the last year, she’s been holding pop-up bagel events, which always sell out remarkably fast — people, including me, queue up for these bagels! She’s opening a brick-and-mortar store here in Oak Park, which is VERY EXCITING, but also, there have been a host of unanticipated expenses, which I have tremendous sympathy for, having gone through something similar, though on smaller scale, with the cookbook project.

So I’m REALLY EXCITED to offer a Kickstarter reward with Amanda — for $60, you’ll get to support a great local project (two of them!), come to my home, and enjoy a fusion brunch featuring a variety of bagels and cream cheeses paired with an array of Sri Lankan accompaniments (seeni sambol on a bagel turns out to be DELICIOUS), along with mango and passionfruit mimosas, tropical fruit salad, coffee and homemade chai. Plus, you’ll get copies of the two previous e-books: The Marshmallows of Serendib and Vegan Serendib, and the opportunity to buy Feast at the discounted Kickstarter price. (Accessibility note: my old Victorian is sadly not wheelchair accessible, and we have a dog and two cats.)

At the time of my posting this, there are just 38 hours left to go on Amanda’s Kickstarter — and lots of other great prizes at different levels, if something else appeals to you. Even if you just want to throw in $1 to help a terrific woman get her small business off the ground, it’d be appreciated! So check it out!

Whew! So that’s the update, and as for me and Feast, more soon!

https://www.kickstarter.com/pr…/1097158538/daly-bagels-daily

*****

Oblig info: “My new Sri Lankan cookbook, A Feast of Serendib, launches on March 6, 2020, but we’re doing a long, slow pre-launch of the special Kickstarter edition in the interim. Right now, we still have discounted Kickstarter pricing available for pre-orders, along with Kickstarter goodies — you can pre-order here: http://serendibkitchen.com/a-feast-of-serendib/

If you’d like to support the development of more mostly Sri Lankan recipes, I’d love to have you join the cookbook club — for $2 / month, you’ll get recipes delivered to your inbox (fairly) regularly: https://www.patreon.com/mohanraj

And here’s all the foodie social media:

Serendib Kitchen blog: http://serendibkitchen.com
Serendib Kitchen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serendib_kitchen/
Serendib FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/132029834135500/
Serendib FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/mohanrajserendib/

Thanks for your support!”

OMG. The first shipment of Feast paperbacks arrived and they look beautiful. Thank all the little gods.

I have to admit, I actually felt queasy as I started opening the box, afraid there would be something terribly wrong. But no, they’re gorgeous. Whew.

(Okay, I do want to tweak a margin, but aside from that…)

I can’t remember if I planted this, or if it just showed upon its own, but it’s pretty splendid. Illinois native, early goldenrod.

Meadow rue (thalictrum rochebrunianum) — blooming a little late this year, but I’ll take it. Six weeks of blooms in shade make this plant a treasure; one of my woodland garden favorites.

Feeling grateful to the people who told me a begonia hanging basket could handle a fair bit of shade and a whole lot of neglect…

Afternoon in the garden, late summer.

Dahlias are starting to really get going…

Walked two blocks to Bed, Bath and Beyond, because I was restless, despite being sick; came home with apple cider pods for the Keurig (okay in a pinch, but real is definitely better), and a crackle candle with firewood scent — we’re all a little too tired for building a real fire tonight, but this will do me nicely for now, with the early autumn chill in the air. Maybe a fire tomorrow. Reading the Mormon homeschooler memoir, Educated, which is both beautifully written and heartbreaking. These children.

 

#blog
#serendib

 

We’re starting to look ahead to next summer planning, and the big questions are:

a) am I hosting a writing / creativity / food retreat in Sri Lanka, and if so when?
b) am I book touring with Benjamin Rosenbaum? (probably second half of July)

The main option of the retreat is after WisCon, so somewhere in the June 1-30 range. My tentative plan would be to serve as instructor and host for a 10-day retreat, but also spend some additional time either before or after the retreat with family, so we get some good Sri Lanka time when I’m not working.

So this is mostly a very early heads-up that if you’re the sort of person who might want to spend a fair bit of money on a tropical retreat with me and some other writer-types, speak now if you have a date preference. I’ll be working with Mandy Jayatissa shortly to select location, finalize dates, etc. and so on. You could also let me know if you want to be on the ‘notify me’ list for when it’s live. I have no idea how popular it’ll be, given the cost, but spots may go very fast.

Book tour stuff is going to be ongoing over the next year, much planning in the works. Pem Hessing is helping me put together a calendar.

#blog
#serendibkitchen

UPDATE: Eep, the official launch date is going to be MUCH later, due to…well, I think it must have been a misunderstanding. It’ll be March 6th; we’ll be officially launching at FogCon, where I’m an honored guest. There will probably be some kind of party. The rest of the above still holds, though — Kickstarter editions will be available VERY shortly; we’re hoping to start shipping those out in about two weeks.

ORIGINAL POST: I think we’re finalizing the Feast timeline a little bit more. (Oh the tiny little delays all along the pipeline that add up to weeks and weeks….) This is what I have right now:

– September 15: soft launch for Kickstarter edition hardcover and paperback

– by October 15: e-book ready (hopefully) and sent out to Kickstarter backers

Yesterday, I felt like I leveled up in cooking — I made a batch of passion fruit marshmallows AND a batch of cashew milk toffee AT THE SAME TIME, and they both came out perfectly and nothing burned. Woot! 🙂(Yay for timers and exact measurements on candy thermometers.)

Making sweets for Cee Gee‘s art gallery show tonight — at least that’s the hope, if I can get the address to drop them off at!

   

#serendibkitchen

Gluten-free cookbook question! So, I promised a gluten-free e-book of Sri Lankan recipes as part of the Feast Kickstarter. I thought I’d work on it over the summer, but no. That’s okay, I think, but I’m going to start working on it now, and expect to have it done by end of October. It won’t be a copy of everything in Feast, made gluten-free — more of a sampler.

Now, much of Feast already is gluten-free! Since Sri Lankan cuisine is more rice-based than wheat-based, that helps a lot. Wheat has crept into some traditional rice-based recipes, mostly because it makes dough softer, but we can just take it out again and go more traditional, so that’s easy.

So mostly, I think what I should do is:

a) choose the best of what’s already there and already gluten-free (in each section — appetizers, entrees, etc.)

b) take the wheat-infused recipes back to the rice-based versions, and then

c) come up with some extra recipes which will be exciting to gluten-free people — and that last step is where I get stuck.

What is exciting to gluten-free people? What kinds of things do you crave, that are then hard to find recipes for? I am looking forward to experimenting in the kitchen this fall, but pointers to the right kinds of things to develop would be very helpful!

#blog
#serendibkitchen

Jeremy has delivered the final, indexed and fully designed, text of Feast of Serendib. I am feeling weirdly emotional about the whole thing. My cookbook makes me want to cry. I’m not sure that’s normal.

It’s a memoir, you know. In its own way, though not exactly the sort of memoir I learned to write in my creative nonfiction class. But I think I’ll send my professor a copy anyway…

#serendibkitchen

For the imaginary Sri Lankan American fusion cafe that is NEVER going to happen (but okay, maybe a pop-up night someday…) — beef curry & banana bread go beautifully together. Now I’m hungry.

(I just had dinner. Not actually hungry. And yet…)

#serendibkitchen